

1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Brian was born in 1959, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
The biggest hits of 1959
#1 Movie
Ben-Hur
Best Picture
Ben-Hur
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
The world at every milestone
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Watergate break-in; last Apollo Moon mission
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Star Wars premieres; Elvis dies
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Berlin Wall falls; Tiananmen Square protests
Columbine shooting; Y2K panic builds
Michael Jackson dies; Bitcoin created
First image of a black hole; Hong Kong protests
“A bridge is built beam by beam, and a district is built block by block.”